diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9db9977b46c..de830b1e9f1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 ### Fixes
 
 - CLI: lazy-load model, plugin, and device runtime helpers and keep channel option help on generated startup metadata or generic fallback text so parent/help output renders without importing those runtime paths.
+- CLI: route `plugins list --json` through the parsed command fast path and cover it in response budgets so plugin JSON inventory avoids full CLI registration work.
 - Gateway/session history: carry monotonic transcript message sequence through live updates and refresh SSE history when stale sequence input would otherwise append bad incremental state. (#81474) Thanks @samzong.
 - Memory/daily-files: widen the daily-memory file matcher used by Dreaming, rem-backfill, rem-harness, the doctor sweep, and short-term promotion so `memory/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md` files written by the bundled session-memory hook (and any future slugged variants) are discovered alongside the date-only `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md` shape. Date extraction still uses the leading `YYYY-MM-DD` capture group, so per-day ingestion/promotion semantics are unchanged for existing date-only files; slugged files now flow through the same paths instead of being silently skipped. Fixes #69536. Thanks @jack-stormentswe.
 - Security/sandbox: include Windows `USERPROFILE` in the sandbox blocked home roots so credential-bearing binds (such as `.codex`, `.openclaw`, or `.ssh` under the Windows user profile) are denied even when `HOME` points at a different shell home. (#63074) Thanks @luoyanglang.
diff --git a/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts b/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts
index 96b8bc85918..434041aff81 100644
--- a/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts
+++ b/scripts/bench-cli-startup.ts
@@ -161,6 +161,14 @@ const COMMAND_CASES: readonly CommandCase[] = [
     firstOutputBudgetMs: 2_500,
     exitBudgetMs: 6_000,
   },
+  {
+    id: "pluginsListJson",
+    name: "plugins list --json",
+    args: ["plugins", "list", "--json"],
+    presets: ["response", "real"],
+    firstOutputBudgetMs: 2_500,
+    exitBudgetMs: 6_000,
+  },
   {
     id: "gatewayHelp",
     name: "gateway --help",
diff --git a/src/cli/command-catalog.ts b/src/cli/command-catalog.ts
index ad7acb728f7..f9fd5a26a96 100644
--- a/src/cli/command-catalog.ts
+++ b/src/cli/command-catalog.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ type CliRoutedCommandId =
   | "tasks-list"
   | "tasks-audit"
   | "channels-list"
-  | "channels-status";
+  | "channels-status"
+  | "plugins-list";
 
 export type CliCommandPathPolicy = {
   bypassConfigGuard: boolean;
@@ -307,6 +308,12 @@ export const cliCommandCatalog: readonly CliCommandCatalogEntry[] = [
     exact: true,
     policy: { hideBanner: true },
   },
+  {
+    commandPath: ["plugins", "list"],
+    exact: true,
+    policy: { ensureCliPath: false, loadPlugins: "never", networkProxy: "bypass" },
+    route: { id: "plugins-list" },
+  },
   {
     commandPath: ["onboard"],
     exact: true,
diff --git a/src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts b/src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts
index b47f7bdc4cd..7cfee401bda 100644
--- a/src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/command-path-policy.test.ts
@@ -203,9 +203,13 @@ describe("command-path-policy", () => {
       loadPlugins: "never",
       hideBanner: true,
     });
+    expectResolvedPolicy(["plugins", "list"], {
+      ensureCliPath: false,
+      loadPlugins: "never",
+      networkProxy: "bypass",
+    });
     for (const commandPath of [
       ["plugins", "install"],
-      ["plugins", "list"],
       ["plugins", "inspect"],
       ["plugins", "registry"],
       ["plugins", "doctor"],
diff --git a/src/cli/program/route-args.ts b/src/cli/program/route-args.ts
index fbb5d42c87d..9132896e9db 100644
--- a/src/cli/program/route-args.ts
+++ b/src/cli/program/route-args.ts
@@ -272,6 +272,24 @@ export function parseChannelsStatusRouteArgs(argv: string[]) {
   };
 }
 
+export function parsePluginsListRouteArgs(argv: string[]) {
+  if (!hasFlag(argv, "--json")) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  const positionals = getCommandPositionalsWithRootOptions(argv, {
+    commandPath: ["plugins", "list"],
+    booleanFlags: ["--json", "--enabled", "--verbose"],
+  });
+  if (!positionals || positionals.length !== 0) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return {
+    json: true as const,
+    enabled: hasFlag(argv, "--enabled"),
+    verbose: hasFlag(argv, "--verbose"),
+  };
+}
+
 function parseTasksListRouteArgsForCommandPath(argv: string[], commandPath: string[]) {
   if (!hasFlag(argv, "--json")) {
     return null;
diff --git a/src/cli/program/routed-command-definitions.ts b/src/cli/program/routed-command-definitions.ts
index 3d49388e6fc..ff4ee4fc78f 100644
--- a/src/cli/program/routed-command-definitions.ts
+++ b/src/cli/program/routed-command-definitions.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   parseHealthRouteArgs,
   parseModelsListRouteArgs,
   parseModelsStatusRouteArgs,
+  parsePluginsListRouteArgs,
   parseSessionsRouteArgs,
   parseStatusRouteArgs,
   parseTasksAuditRouteArgs,
@@ -164,4 +165,11 @@ export const routedCommandDefinitions = {
       await channelsStatusCommand(args, defaultRuntime);
     },
   }),
+  "plugins-list": defineRoutedCommand({
+    parseArgs: parsePluginsListRouteArgs,
+    runParsedArgs: async (args) => {
+      const { runPluginsListCommand } = await import("../plugins-list-command.js");
+      await runPluginsListCommand(args, defaultRuntime);
+    },
+  }),
 };
diff --git a/src/cli/program/routes.test.ts b/src/cli/program/routes.test.ts
index bc17d8fb560..065f4f30a12 100644
--- a/src/cli/program/routes.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/program/routes.test.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const tasksAuditJsonCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const channelsListCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const channelsStatusCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const agentsListCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
+const runPluginsListCommandMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
+const pluginsCliLoadedMock = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
 
 vi.mock("../config-cli.js", () => ({
   runConfigGet: runConfigGetMock,
@@ -55,6 +57,17 @@ vi.mock("../../commands/agents.js", () => ({
   agentsListCommand: agentsListCommandMock,
 }));
 
+vi.mock("../plugins-list-command.js", () => ({
+  runPluginsListCommand: runPluginsListCommandMock,
+}));
+
+vi.mock("../plugins-cli.js", () => {
+  pluginsCliLoadedMock();
+  return {
+    registerPluginsCli: vi.fn(),
+  };
+});
+
 describe("program routes", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.clearAllMocks();
@@ -150,6 +163,29 @@ describe("program routes", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("routes plugins list JSON without importing the full plugins CLI", async () => {
+    const route = expectRoute(["plugins", "list"]);
+    expect(route.loadPlugins).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(route.canRun?.(["node", "openclaw", "plugins", "list"])).toBe(false);
+
+    await expect(
+      route.run(["node", "openclaw", "plugins", "list", "--json", "--enabled", "--verbose"]),
+    ).resolves.toBe(true);
+
+    expect(runPluginsListCommandMock).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      { json: true, enabled: true, verbose: true },
+      defaultRuntime,
+    );
+    expect(pluginsCliLoadedMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for plugins list JSON route with unsupported arguments", async () => {
+    await expectRunFalse(
+      ["plugins", "list"],
+      ["node", "openclaw", "plugins", "list", "--json", "--wat"],
+    );
+  });
+
   it("matches gateway status route without plugin preload", () => {
     const route = expectRoute(["gateway", "status"]);
     expect(route.loadPlugins).toBeUndefined();